The FBI said Thursday it is giving Hollywood film studios, music companies and software makers permission to use its name and logo on their DVDs, CDs and other digital media in hopes the labels will deter consumers from making illegal copies. FBI officials said the idea was conceived jointly by the agency’s cyber crime division and representatives of the entertainment and software industries, who claim they’ve lost billions of dollars due to digital piracy.
“This anti-piracy seal should serve as a warning to those who contemplate the theft of intellectual property, that the FBI will actively investigate cyber crimes and will bring the perpetrators of these criminal acts to justice,” said Jana Monroe, assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division. Like the warning messages that have appeared on VHS tapes and DVDs for years, the new labels spell out that unauthorized copying and distribution of digital content is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
It will be up to the individual entertainment companies and software manufacturers to decide whether to display the new FBI warnings. Representatives of the various trade groups for the film, software and music industries said Thursday their members were studying whether to affix the warnings on packaging or directly on the CDs and DVDs, so it’s unknown how soon they may begin to appear in the marketplace. U.S. software companies lose up to $12 billion a year to piracy, according to the Software and Information Industry Association. Music companies lost more than $4.6 billion worldwide last year, according to the RIAA, and movie industry officials pegged their annual losses from bootlegged films at more than $3.5 billion.
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